Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 51

“Why not?”

Xiao Yaqing could not believe Cang Chuli had refused.

“It’s only three hundred gold taels. I’ll pay for her!”

Cang Chuli did not answer. He walked slowly to Xia Heng, who looked equally confused.

“Remember what your father said when he visited?”

Xia Heng tried to recall it.

Wait… not that line?

“A person of the General’s Mansion in life, and a ghost of the General’s Mansion in death.”

Xiao Yaqing’s eyes widened.

“Cang Chuli! You’re actually pulling that?”

“Enough, Yaqing!” Madam Xiao said. “How did you end up visiting Mingxu’s mansion only to demand one of his maids?”

“Mother, I truly felt like we were old friends at first sight!”

Cang Chuli never took his eyes from Xia Heng. He smiled.

“What a coincidence. So did I.”

All three women stared in shock. Madam Xiao instantly fell silent.

Only Xiao Huan remained oblivious to what was happening. His mind was still stuck on the formal financial forms of “one” and “two,” leaving him no attention for their conversation.

Alarms shrieked in Xia Heng’s head.

Disaster!

When the fiend smiled, the King of Hell arrived.

This bastard was about to torment her!

Before she could react, Cang Chuli continued.

“I also took to Ah Heng at first sight. I can’t bear to send her anywhere. I can only rest easy with her where I can keep an eye on her.”

Xia Heng’s brain burned out.

Cang Chuli watched the red spread from her neck to the top of her head as her gaze lost focus.

He finally laughed.

“Heh.”

“You—”

Madam Xiao clapped a hand over Xiao Yaqing’s mouth.

“Mingxu! We’ve disturbed you long enough today. Your uncle and I will leave now. We’ll visit again another day!

“Yaqing, come bid farewell to Elder Brother Mingxu.”

Despite her words, she did not release her daughter. She covered Xiao Yaqing’s mouth with one hand, hooked the other around her husband, and hurried out.

Cang Chuli straightened.

“Uncle, Aunt, Mingxu will see you out.”

Before he finished, Madam Xiao elbowed him back.

“Why see us out in this cold? I know this mansion. We’re leaving.”

Cang Chuli rubbed his stomach and watched them go.

Something felt wrong.

Had he taken the joke too far?

Lady Yang did not release her husband and daughter until they had left the General’s Mansion and reached the gate.

Once the family boarded their carriage, she asked,

“Yaqing, what is special about that maid? Why do you want her?”

Still stunned by Cang Chuli, Xiao Yaqing answered,

“Nothing. I simply haven’t met anyone so compatible in a long time, and she knows Mathematics!

“I thought she could help me take over Father’s business faster.”

“But what is going on with Mingxu?” Xiao Yaqing asked. “He has already learned the Numerical Bookkeeping Method. Why won’t he release a single maid?

“I offered to redeem her. It isn’t as though I refused to pay.”

Madam Xiao laughed. Her daughter was still too innocent.

“Child, your eye is too sharp! Among all those maids, you chose the one Mingxu likes.”

“Likes? Surely not…” Xiao Yaqing said in disbelief.

Cang Chuli had disliked playing with girls since childhood, and even more so as an adult.

When she first met the boys, he had found her troublesome.

Had she not been a modern person stifled at home, climbing trees, wading through rivers, and crawling through dog holes whenever she went out, she could never have joined their group.

When she saw Cang Chuli at Lehua Tower, he had not treated Xia Heng specially.

“All right, Yaqing. Mother knows it’s rare for you to find someone you like.”

Madam Xiao sighed. If their family had not wandered in hardship during Yaqing’s childhood, the girl would not have lacked even one intimate female friend.

But thinking of Cang Chuli, she gritted her teeth.

“Yet that’s Mingxu. He’s already this age, and there still isn’t a woman in his household. Do you know what people in the capital say about him?”

Madam Xiao did not admit that she had wondered too.

“Your Uncle Cang and Aunt Cang are gone, so your father and I must consider Mingxu’s marriage.

“He spends every day among men in the army camp, while his mansion has hardly any women.

“Whether he likes her now or not, showing interest in a woman is good!”

Xiao Huan finally recovered, but the topic had moved far ahead.

“What? Interested in which woman? Who?”

Lady Yang ignored the lost man and told her daughter,

“So Mingxu needs her more. Let him have her, all right?”

Xiao Yaqing finally understood. Her mother feared the capital’s rumors were true and Cang Chuli had no interest in women.

She was willing to try anything at this point.

Looking at her mother, then remembering Xia Heng’s crimson face, Xiao Yaqing shook her head inwardly.

Sister, it isn’t that I won’t help you. The enemy is too difficult, and he even has allies!

Ha ha! On the first day they met, she had witnessed her fellow transmigrator’s most embarrassing moment.

She truly had not meant to.

Xia Heng, newly blessed with a humiliating memory, finally came back to herself.

Heaven knew how mortifying Cang Chuli’s words had been.

Yes, mortifying—not shy!

Hearing him say that in front of someone else from the twenty-first century was like posting an emotional rant late at night, only for her friends to read it aloud over and over the next day.

She was not conceited enough to believe Cang Chuli could not bear to part with her. The key phrase was clearly “where I can keep an eye on her.”

So, Chuqing, please stop letting your eyes shine! Wipe that strange smile away, and stop standing so close to hear gossip!

While Xia Heng and the heroine spoke, Cang Chuli and Xiao Huan had gone to the study to talk. Chuqing stayed with Madam Xiao and showed her around.

Chuqing had not expected such juicy gossip upon returning.

Now Mo Bai was escorting the Xiao family out, and the general had not ordered her away, so she quietly moved into a corner with a better view.

“You want to go to the Xiao Mansion?” Cang Chuli asked, finally withdrawing his gaze.

If only you’d spoken normally before, Xia Heng complained inwardly.

“I thought it was a good opportunity. If I left, the general could feel more at ease.”

Cang Chuli laughed.

“Well, aren’t you refreshingly honest?”

Xia Heng pursed her lips.

“There’s no need to hide it. You know my father sent me here as a spy. Two days ago, he even asked where you keep your command seal.

“I… this servant thought it was a good opportunity. If I left the General’s Mansion, they couldn’t use me to harm you, and you could relax.”

Halfway through, Xia Heng remembered to call herself “this servant.” It felt unnatural.

She genuinely did not know why Cang Chuli kept her. Several others had already been redeemed by their families.

“Oh? No selfish motive?”

“…There is. Miss Xiao likes the vegetables I’m growing and said we could sell them together. Also, the Xiao Mansion’s food is delicious.”

Xia Heng answered honestly.

Cang Chuli glared at her.

“Xiao Yaqing likes your vegetables? Those foreign seeds you bought?”

Xia Heng nodded quickly.

“Impressive. Didn’t you say they were meant to improve my meals?”

Xia Heng froze, then hurriedly replied,

“Of course! Miss Xiao only wants to buy the seeds left after the next harvest.”

Cang Chuli fell speechless.

“You needn’t worry about the General’s Mansion. Since I allowed you to remain here, I won’t drive you away.

“Servants are not forbidden from doing small private business to supplement their income.

“As for you, stay here peacefully. Otherwise, your uncle will have to arrange another spy, and the replacement may not know when to cooperate the way you do.”

He ordered the two women to clean the room and strode away.

Xia Heng understood.

When the future was uncertain, it was better to keep someone familiar, whose measure he already knew, close at hand. Especially one as sensible as her.

As she wiped the table with Chuqing, Xia Heng lamented that she had forgotten this obvious point.

She would have made the same choice.

Chuqing pouted. Her general truly was hopeless. She had thought there was fresh gossip, but why did everything he said sound so ambiguous?